Streatham Common and the Streatham Station(s)

I have great news - this blogpost was a collaborative effort! I'd like to thank my friend Jacob for taking the photo of Streatham Hill station - I didn't have to take one myself as a result, whilst still maintaining the graphic novelty of this blog.

I took this photo of Streatham Common a few days ago. It's lovely, right?

Later that same day, it came to me that there are three stations in Streatham - Streatham Hill and Streatham Common, both served primarily by Southern, and Streatham, which also sees Thameslink operated services. Then I realised something more concerning - the closest station to Streatham Common isn't Streatham Common station, but instead Streatham. How did this happen? And what's the deal with Streatham Hill?

Let's first ask why Streatham Common is a common. There are loads of commons in South London - Tooting Common, Putney Common, Clapham Common, Wimbledon Common...but why are they called commons?  

The obvious answer is that this land is designated for common use for all people. This includes walking on it as part of the right to roam - so cycling, climbing, horse riding are all allowed. You can also host sporting events on the commons, such as those youth football matches you might see when walking along a common. You can't do stuff such as light fires or deliberately destroy the common without permission from the common's owner - usually the council. In other words, it's public land. But that's obvious. All the things related to common land can be found in the 2006 Commons Act.

Streatham Common became a common in 1883 after being purchased through the Metropolitan Commons Act of 1878. Over time, ownership was transferred until Lambeth Council finally took control of it in 1971. The common itself is rather nice, what with it being large open space next to Streatham High Road and residential streets, with the Rookery Gardens within the boundary of the common.

Streatham Common station isn't actually that far away from the common itself - it's only about half a mile away. The station opened in 1862, on the Balham Hill and East Croydon line, part of the already-mentioned-on-this-blog London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The plan was that you could get to London Victoria more quickly by avoiding the long detour via Crystal Palace (and also via Streatham Hill). It was called Greyhound Lane station after the road on which it's situated, before its name was changed in 1870 to Streatham Common. Part of the reason for this may have been a fatal train crash in 1863 (just six months after opening) where four passengers were killed; The Times reportedly named the accident as having happened "near Streatham-common station" (though the Wikipedia source no longer exists) yet on this article provided as a Wikipedian source, I can't see any mention of Streatham-common station (it's amazing how old this article is, as you can read a piece about the Confederacy).

What about Streatham station? That station was built in 1868 - now we can see why Streatham Common is named as such, it was the closest at the time - and is now part of the northern end of the Sutton Loop (also blogged about before) as well as being part of Thameslink with services snaking through Central London, and Southern services towards Croydon. Interestingly enough, this station is actually the newest out of the three Streathams, yet may be the most well known one. It's the only station to be a bus terminus - four routes in fact, including two central routes - and is very close to the centre of Streatham, if you consider it to be by St Leonard's Church. There's a large leisure centre nearby, and a large Tesco beside it. 

 

And, obviously, the common.

So what about Streatham Hill? This station is along Streatham High Road amongst swathes of shops and is thus perhaps more the "central" Streatham railway station. It's also the oldest, having opened in 1856, as...Streatham. 

Back then, Streatham had a population of below 10,000, yet the population was rapidly increasing - in 1801 there were only 400 inhabitants; by 1901, there were 71,000 (source - p5). As mentioned earlier, you were along the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, going the slow way round towards Croydon, Haywards Heath and Brighton. By 1868, Streatham station was opened, so the old Streatham station was renamed Streatham and Brixton Hill, before becoming Streatham Hill by 1869. 

So those are the three Streatham stations, about 1.5 miles apart in all. If you for some reason are still reading, I'd like to finish by mentioning an interesting road name by Streatham Common station that I found when researching this topic, that being Estreham Road. Estreham is what Streatham was called when it was first recorded in the Domesday Book.